Paging related methods and apparatus

1. A communications method, the method comprising: receiving, at a first base station, a paging request to page a first UE device; determining, at the first base station, a first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said first set of base stations including a small cell base station; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the small cell base station in said first set of base stations, said paging request message requesting paging of the first UE device; receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; receiving, at the first base station, an additional paging request to page the first UE device; determining, at the first base station, an additional set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said additional set of base stations including an additional small cell base station which is not included in said first set of base stations; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the additional small cell base station in said additional set of base stations, said paging request message to the additional small cell base station requesting paging of the first UE device; and receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the additional small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful.

2. The communications method of claim 1 , wherein the first base station is a macro base station; and wherein said small cell base station is a first small cell base station having a coverage area smaller than the coverage area of said macro base station.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining, at the first base station, the first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device includes determining the first set of base stations based on one or more of: i) historical cell information, ii) first UE mobility pattern information, iii) signal measurement reports communicated by the first UE to the first base station, iv) channel quality information feedback communicated by the first UE to the first base station or another network device, v) physical downlink control channel load on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) at the first base station, vi) a received signal strength of a signal transmitted by the first base station as reported to the first base station to by the first UE, vii) a number of UEs requiring paging, viii) a number of small cells under a coverage area of the first base station, ix) radio network planning data or x) received UE reports.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the paging response message from the first small cell base station indicates a paging failure and wherein the paging response message from the first small cell base station further indicates the reason for the paging attempt failure.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein said paging request to page a first UE device received at the first base station is received from a network device; and wherein the method further comprises: sending, from the first base station, a paging results message to the network device, said paging results message indicating one of success or failure to page the first UE.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: receiving, at the first small cell base station, said paging request message, sent by the macro base station, requesting paging of the first UE device; and performing, at the first small cell base station, in response to said received paging request message, a listen before talk (LBT) operation to determine if unlicensed spectrum is available to use to transmit a paging signal to the first UE device.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising: generating, at the first small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the first small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the first small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; and transmitting, at the first small cell base station, the generated paging response message to the macro base station.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said listen before talk operation determines that the unlicensed spectrum is available; and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, at the first small cell base station, a paging signal from the first small cell base station directed to the first UE device; monitoring, at the first small cell base station, for a response to the paging signal transmitted from the first small cell base station; deciding, at the first small cell base station, when said the monitoring detected a response, to include a paging success indication in the paging response message when generating the paging response message; and deciding, at the first small cell base station, when said the monitoring failed to detect a response, to include a paging failure indication in the paging response message when generating the paging response message.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein said listen before talk operation determines that the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable; and wherein the method further comprises: operating the first small cell base station to determine if either of: i) the maximum time limit for performing listen before talk (LBT) checks on the unlicensed spectrum for this paging message has been reached, or ii) the paging message exceeded the allowable time for a paging message to be in the base station buffer, has been satisfied; and wherein said step of generating, at the first small cell base station, said paging response message includes: including in the paging response message an indication that the paging attempt to page the UE was a failure and that the reason for the failure was that unlicensed spectrum was unavailable, at the first small cell base station, for transmission of a paging signal to the first UE.

10. A communications method, the method comprising: receiving, at a first base station, a paging request to page a first UE device; determining, at the first base station, a first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said first set of base stations including a small cell base station; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the small cell base station in said first set of base stations, said paging request message requesting paging of the first UE device; receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; receiving, at the first base station, a second paging request, said second paging request being a request to page a second UE device; determining, at the first base station, a second set of base stations which are to attempt to page the second UE device, said second set of base stations including a second small cell base station, said second small cell base station not being in said first set of base stations; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the second small cell base station in said second set of base stations, said paging request message requesting paging of the second UE device; and receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the second small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the second small cell base station to page the second UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the second UE device was unsuccessful.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein determining, at the first base station, the second set of base stations which are to attempt to page the second UE device includes determining the second set of base stations based on one or more of: i) historical cell information corresponding to the second UE, ii) second UE mobility pattern information, iii) signal measurement reports communicated by the second UE to the first base station, iv) channel quality information feedback communicated by the second UE to the first base station or another network device, v) physical downlink control channel (PDDCH) load on a physical downlink control channel at the first base station, vi) a received signal strength of a signal transmitted by the first base station as reported to the first base station by the second UE, vii) the number of UEs requiring paging, viii) the number of small cells under a coverage area of the first base station, ix) radio network planning data or x) received UE reports.

12. A communications system comprising: a first base station including: a first processor configured to: operate the first base station to receive a paging request to page a first UE device; determine a first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said first set of base stations including a small cell base station; operate the first base station to send a paging request message to the small cell base station in said first set of base stations, said paging request message requesting paging of the first UE device; operate the first base station to receive a paging response message from the small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; operate the first base station to receive an additional paging request to page the first UE device; determine an additional set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said additional set of base stations including an additional small cell base station which is not included in said first set of base stations; operate the first base station to send a paging request message to the additional small cell base station in said additional set of base stations, said paging request message to the additional small cell base station requesting paging of the first UE device; and operate the first base station to receive a paging response message from the additional small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful.

13. The communications system of claim 12 , wherein the first base station is a macro base station; and wherein said small cell base station is a first small cell base station having a coverage area smaller than the coverage area of said macro base station.

14. The communications system of claim 13 , wherein said first processor is configured to: determine the first set of base stations based on one or more of: i) historical cell information, ii) first UE mobility pattern information, iii) signal measurement reports communicated by the first UE to the first base station, iv) channel quality information feedback communicated by the first UE to the first base station or another network device, v) physical downlink control channel load on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) at the first base station, vi) a received signal strength of a signal transmitted by the first base station as reported to the first base station by the first UE, vii) a number of UEs requiring paging, viii) a number of small cells under a coverage area of the first base station, ix) radio network planning data or x) received UE reports, as part of being configured to determine the first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device.

15. The communications system of claim 13 , wherein the paging response message from the first small cell base station indicates a paging failure and wherein the paging response message from the first small cell base station further indicates the reason for the paging attempt failure.

16. The communications system of claim 13 , wherein said paging request to page a first UE device received at the first base station is received from a network device; and wherein said first processor is further configured to: operate the first base station to send a paging results message to the network device, said paging results message indicating one of success or failure to page the first UE.

17. The communications system of claim 13 , further comprising: said first small cell base station, said first small cell base station including: a second processor configured to: operate the first small cell base station to receive said paging request message, sent by the macro cell base station, requesting paging of the first UE device; and perform, in response to said received paging request message, a listen before talk (LBT) operation to determine if unlicensed spectrum is available to use to transmit a paging signal to the first UE device.

18. The communications system of claim 17 , wherein said second processor is further configured to: generate said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the first small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the first small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; and operate the first small cell base station to transmit the generated paging response message to the macro cell base station.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor control a first base station to perform the steps of: receiving, at the first base station, a paging request to page a first UE device; determining, at the first base station, a first set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said first set of base stations including a small cell base station; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the small cell base station in said first set of base stations, said paging request message requesting paging of the first UE device; receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful; receiving, at the first base station, an additional paging request to page the first UE device; determining, at the first base station, an additional set of base stations which are to attempt to page the first UE device, said additional set of base stations including an additional small cell base station which is not included in said first set of base stations; sending, from the first base station, a paging request message to the additional small cell base station in said additional set of base stations, said paging request message to the additional small cell base station requesting paging of the first UE device; and receiving, at the first base station, a paging response message from the additional small cell base station, said paging response message indicating one of: i) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was successful or ii) an attempt at the additional small cell base station to page the first UE device was unsuccessful.